The Butcher Grid is a feature-packed enduro, all-mountain front tyre that is excellent value at £35. Already highly rated by us in dry weather, Specialized also reckons it’s a good mud-friendly tyre, thanks to the softer, outward-facing 42a rubber that sits on top of a harder 70a base compound, used to keep the tread blocks sturdy.

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With a tread pattern derived from the Butcher DH tyre developed with Sam Hill, this Grid version uses cut-resistant material in the sidewall and a reinforced, dual-ply construction, which makes the tyre more stable and flex-free. It is fully tubeless ready, and was one of the easiest to mount.

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The centre knobs sit quite tightly together, which means it rolls pretty well considering it weighs 950g and has tacky rubber — it certainly doesn’t roll any slower than something of comparable
heft. The Butcher feels very stable and planted on broken, blown-out dirt and loamy corners, and is at home in wet dirt (so long as it’s not deep mud).

However, the rubber compound can feel a bit skate-y and under-damped on wet roots and rocks, especially on the shoulder-edge knobs.

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Cornering hold is good, but a fair way off the confidence instilled by either the more aggressive winter tyres in mud and slime. During back-to-back testing, it also felt a tad more nervy and skittish on wet rocks than some other tyres in this category.

The Specialized Butcher Grid is a tough tyre with good durability, shape and tread, and it comes at a great price, but it really works best during the drier months here in the UK.